Looking for Advice on Shipping for Square Online Orders

[Thevioletfox]

The title of this thread has been edited by a Square Moderator from the original: "Advice on Shipping"

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

I'm looking for some advice on shipping.  I ship MOST of what I sell and it goes all over the United States.  I deal in used (and some new) books - so every single item weighs a different amount.  And there are thousands of items.  When I started a couple years ago, I was just calculating shipping by the item.  So 3.19 per book to ship Media Mail or $8 per book to ship USPS Priority.  And that works most of the time. If it's a huge book, I might take a hit.  If its a little kids book, the customer might pay more in shipping than I do.  So it evens out in the long run.  Not perfect, but workable.  However, what I'm finding is that if a customer has 6 or 8 items in their cart, shipping can quickly add up to cost more than their total for the actual books! And that's a problem.  So now I'm looking at using the real time shipping.  But that means I have to go back and weigh every single book, correct? It also means I need to take into consideration size of each book to know which box I will use, correct?  And all of that seems more than daunting. SO I'm here looking for advice.  Things I haven't thought of? Anything? 

[frances_a]

Hello @Thevioletfox! 

Uh, yes, using real time shipping means you would need to add weight and set up boxes for all of your items. 

With thousands of items, I can totally see how that's daunting. 

I'll be honest, most of the time, I recommend Sellers to go with what you are already doing because, as you mentioned, it evens out. But that doesn't work in every case.

I would encourage you to explore all of the options Shipping Profiles offer. 

You can enter rates based on number of items. So for example, 1-5 books would charge one specific amount, but 6-10 books would charge more. 

You can also set up Shipping profiles for certain items, so you could select your huge books and create a profile specifically for those so you can charge more, and you can charge per item. 

You can create multiple profiles too, so that means you can have "standard" shipping and then an option for large items. 

Let me know if that works for you. I explored a couple of the options using my account, but I only carry a few different items. 

Thank you ☺️

[Thevioletfox]

Thank you, @frances_a !

It sounds like I just need to play around with my settings and rates to find a happy medium.  I think I just get into trouble because the books can vary quite a bit.  Some are tiny little paperbacks that weight a few ounces and aren't much bigger than a postcard.  And others are coffee table books that can weight 5 pounds and be over a square foot in size!  

Using the profiles is something I will explore for sure - thank you for that suggestion!  

Thank you for talking it all out with me 🙂

[LoveYourShelf]

I am also selling mostly books and I'm kinda lost, lol.  I did weigh them when I first entered them in square. But I don't see how to use media mail by weight through square online.  My site is not live yet (still building).  I assume after the customer checks out I will have to take their info and create a label with pirate ship.  So I have no idea how to get fair shipping paid at checkout by weight.  For now I made a shipping profile and just set it at $5.50 for the whole order (did not want to do for each item on the order even at a lower amount cuz that would be way unfair to the customer. Media mail only goes up a few cents every pound).  The $5.50 would cover about 5 pounds. 

To use media mail, are you assuming the amount for shipping to be added to the order, charging that, and then just creating your own label in another program like pirate ship, etc.?    Do you give the customer a choice between media mail & priority and if so, how?

I do not see an option to enter rates based on number of items.  But that could be because I am on the free square online version.

[Thevioletfox]

You're not missing anything - there is no designated Media Mail rate through Square.  I built my own rate and just named it "Media Mail" and then set it up so that it's a flat rate charging $3.19 per item.

Doing it by weight would be using the "real time shipping" option in the Square Premium Plan. Something I have not tried yet.

But I do exactly what you say - after the customer checks out and I get the order, I take their info and plug it into Pirateship.  

As for getting fair shipping at checkout - it's been a gamble and took me a while to find a good middle ground.  And obviously, I'm still struggling.  

I have one Flat Rate setup for Media Mail charging $3.19 per book.  

Then I have a second Shipping Rate setup "per item" for USPS Priority Mail.  And that's setup so that 1-3 items is $8.  4-6 items is $12.  7-9 items is $14.  and so on.  

Neither of these is a perfect science.  Like I said, sometimes the customer overpays and sometimes they underpay.  It depends on the books in the order and how much they weigh.

I'm also on the free plan right now, so if you want to setup exactly like I have, you should be able to.  here's a screenshot of what I've got :

[LoveYourShelf]

OMG that is so helpful.  My other question is do customers get a choice when they check out between the slower media mail and the higher priced priority mail?  I have not gone live yet so I have no idea what the cart/check out screen will look like.  And for the 1-3 items, 4-6 items etc profiles, does square add them automatically depending on the number of items on the order?  Do you have a separate profile set up for each item range (1-3, 4-6, etc)?  It does look like items can be added to multiple shipping profiles but I don't understand how square will know which shipping profile to apply to the order.  I was thinking since I am still building I could do a profile by media mail weight so up to 1 pound books all on same profile, 2 pounds, etc.  Then just add the items to the profiles accordingly.  But this does not solve the multiple items/being charged for each item problem that you are currently having.  Sorry to have so many questions and no answers for you.  But if you can do 1-3 items for priority mail flat rate then I assume you could do the same for a media mail rate of 1-3 items and assume 1 pound per book, and do a 3 pound media mail rate?  

[LoveYourShelf]

ok I was wrong, an item can only be in 1 shipping profile, which makes me even more confused on how to so a profile for 1-3 items, 4-6 items etc, haha

[Thevioletfox]

I will explain better and post more screenshots of the background setup of each one tomorrow- promise! 🙂

[LoveYourShelf]

Enjoy your evening!  I'm just fooling around with it now. I found the spot for amount based on items so I know how to do that now.  The only thing I'm unclear on is how to give different shipping choices for the customer (media or priority,etc.)

Thanks for all your valuable insights, will chat tomorrow.  

[frances_a]

Hello @LoveYourShelf ! 

Stepping in here just to let you know once you set up all of the different shipping choices, they should automatically show on the checkout page. 

If they're not showing up I'm happy to take a look. Let me know!

Thank you. 

Also, welcome to the Seller Community, we're thrilled you joined the conversation ☺️

[LoveYourShelf]

Thank you!  Will let you know if there are any issues.  

[Thevioletfox]

@LoveYourShelf - alright here's a lot of answers/info 🙂

Yes, I give customers a choice at checkout between Media Mail and Priority Mail OR Local Pickup. I don't have my local pickup setup in the traditional way because I have no physical location, so I have it setup as a shipping option.  But if you want to look at what checkout will look like, feel free to check out my website and put some items in your cart to see what it looks like from a customer's point of view.  My website is https://thevioletfoxbookshop.square.site/

Here are some screenshots of how I have my shipping set up.  And obviously, I don't know if this is the BEST way and it's definitely not the only way.  But it's what I'm working with now.

Here's my Shipping Profile screen:

Here's the Media Mail setup:

And here's the priority mail setup:

Is this helping at all?

[LoveYourShelf]

Yes!  This is super helpful!  I worked on it until midnight last night thinking I had it all figured out but realized a few flaws.

I set up default option for media mail for 1-2 items 4.50, 2-3 items 5.50, etc.  Then added another default profile for priority mail as you did, so the customer could also choose that for books if they wanted them faster or if they buy other items.  I'm sure on occasion someone will pick media mail for non qualifying items (since square doesn't know what an item is, it just counts them), but no big deal if I have to adjust shipping cost from time to time in pirate ship and I lose out a few times.

Priority mail I also did as you. Then realized I have the same problem as you but for non book items.  I have it set for 1-3 items $9, thinking I would do priority flat rate by box size and get the free box sizes from the post office.  But what if someone buys a pair of reading glasses for $10?  Ora candle for $18? I don't want to charge them $9 to ship something that's a few ounces.  So back to the drawing board.  I'm thinking of making the second non book option by the sale amount of the order, maybe even do free shipping over $50.  

We cannot use real time shipping on the free plan; you need the highest level plan.

I'm going to spend a little more time today trying to get a fairly accurate estimate for an average package cost for non book items.  Maybe the answer is I do 1 item at $6, 2 items at $7 etc. I'm going to put addresses in across the country into pirate ship and see the options/rates.

I was thinking of setting a profile for each item (one for candles, one playing cards, etc.) but then would still have your original problem of only being able to choose price for each item or for the order.  I wouldn't want say $4 added 3 times and charge the customer $12 for items that collectively weight a pound.

[LoveYourShelf]

Hello again!  Just wanted to let you know what I plan on doing in case it helps you.  I was weary of having the media mail shipping rate always display at checkout and customers would just pick it because it would always be lower even if not all items are books (I found another thread here with someone saying that's what's happening to them).

What I have decided to do is set a custom profile flat rate of $5 shipping for my books, and I will assign the items in the shipping profile  This is not hard for me because I am primarily a brick and mortar store.  The books I will be listing online will be collectible/vintage/rare, new and remainders that I purchase.  The thousands of "regular" used paperbacks and hardcovers are not going on my site - my inventory turns too fast for this to be workable.  Right now I only have about 150 items online total, and about 75 are books, so its just a matter of checking the box when I set of the custom profile and add the items.  

For everything else I sell (non book) I set the default shipping profile by weight and I did weigh the 75 or so items when I entered them.  So if people buy only books, flat rate of $5 for the total order (which covers me for about 4 pounds via media mail; extra can used towards shipping materials).  If people buy only other items, the rate will calculate by the weight of each item in the cart and give a total.  Now, if people mix books with other items it is supposed to add the 2 rates together at checkout - so $5 for the book(s) plus whatever amount the other items calculated at by weight.  So if someone buys a book(s) ($5 to ship) and a candle ($4 to ship by itself) they should see $9 shipping at checkout.  This amount is pretty close to what I was seeing on pirate ship for this weight.  Sometimes it will be lower/higher but in the long run should break even I'm thinking.

From the create shipping profile page:

Rates

If there are multiple items with different shipping profiles in one order, shipping rates will be added together.

Perhaps if you do this in reverse it may help you a bit?  Set your default profile for media mail (by number of items and graduate the amount higher, or however you want), then for the limited non book items set a custom profile and just add those select items calculated by weight.  Then at checkout if the customer mixes items it should add the rates together.

Just wanted to let you know what I found out. You were so helpful to me and I really appreciate it.  I did check out your site to get a visual on what's displayed in the shopping cart and at checkout, etc.  Your site is fantastic!  

[Thevioletfox]

AH, smart!!! Thank you for sharing what you ended up doing. I may take inspiration from your setup and adjust mine.  I made some adjustments to my numbers and decided to offer free shipping over $50.  We'll see how this new setup works out.  I'm trying to avoid spending too much time going back through thousands of items and adding to shipping profiles or making adjustments.  It's always a learning curve, isn't it? 

I haven't had anyone misuse Media Mail yet (thank goodness) - probably because the vast majority of my inventory is books.  Though it sounds like you've got a lot of variety so I can totally understand your concern there. 

I may be in a similar situation to you soon... I'm working on opening a physical location so my online inventory may be getting narrowed down to a more manageable number of items! Again, we'll see how things pan out.

Thank you for coming back and sharing everything you learned and figured out with me!  I am so glad we were able to connect here and help each other out! 🙂  

[True-poet1]

Hey ladies and gents.. I need assistance on shipping rates and standard policy for returns. I'm new to this and just want a little information. Thanks in advance!!

[Thevioletfox]

Hey @True-poet1 - what do you have so far? What are you shipping? That might help us give you some advice 🙂

[True-poet1]

Good morning. I have shirts, hats, sweaters, hoodies as well that I'm shipping. Thanks for responding.

[Thevioletfox]

Hi @True-poet1 

I think the best way for you to setup shipping would be based on weight. So you would enter the weight of each item and then set up your shipping profiles based on those weights. 

As for return policy, that's really up to you. If your items are custom-made, you might consider a very strict return policy because you won't be able to resell them, if that makes sense. Otherwise something like 2 weeks to 30 days seems to be fairly standard.

[True-poet1]

Good morning. Thank you for your help. I appreciate it.